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Tag: Kebbi

  • Kebbi confirms 656 fresh cases of Measles outbreak

    The Kebbi Government on Friday said it had recorded 656 suspected cases of measles in 21 local government areas of the state.

    The Executive Secretary, State Primary Health Care and Development Agency, Dr Mannir Jega, who described the figure as alarming, said it was largely due to refusal of residents to go for routine immunisation.

    The executive secretary said at a news briefing in Birnin Kebbi, that the state had recorded poor coverage due to low turnout for routine immunizations in previous campaigns in 2016.

    “We have 656 Measles cases in the 21 LGAs in the state, out of which 77 cases had been confirmed in 12 LGAs and the victims were treated and discharged,” he said.

    The Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Usman Kambaza, revealed that 1,131 vaccination teams would be deployed to undertake immunisation to counter the upsurge of measles cases across the state.

    “To counter this, the state is planning measles campaign with the support of the National Primary Health Care and Development Agency and other partners.

    “The campaign is expected to start on Sept. 26, and about 898,174 children are expected to be vaccinated.

    “The vaccination is for all children from 9 months to 5 years irrespective of vaccination status,” he said.

    Kambaza explained that vaccinators would be stationed at specific locations closed to residences in all the 225 wards in the state, adding that “no caregiver will travel more than one kilometre to get their children vaccinated.”

    The commissioner urged the media, traditional and religious leaders, and other stakeholders to join in mobilizing women and caregivers to come out en-mass for the measles immunisation.

     

     

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  • Diarrhea kills 3 in Kebbi

    Three persons have been confirmed dead from an outbreak of diarrhea in Kardi village in Birnin Kebbi Local Government area of Kebbi State.

    Abdul Karin Abubakar, the Community Health Officer at the Primary Health Center in the area, said the three deaths were out of 160 patients on admission at the center.

    He said that five other persons whose cases were severe had been referred to Sir Yahaya Memorial Specialist Hospital, while 147 others had been discharged after treatment.

    Alhaji Usman Ibrahim, the Vice Chairman of Birnin Kebbi Local Government, delivered drugs worth N350,000 to the center.

    “The outbreak was unfortunate and we felt sad over the deaths so far recorded and these drugs for your treatment are to be issued freely and no patient should pay for the drugs,” Usman said.

    He called on the people in the affected area to avoid self-medication and maintain a clean environment, assuring that the victims in Gwadangaji would also be provided medical assistance.

    Usman commiserated with the families of the deceased and the entire people of Kardi over the incident.

    He urged the people to ensure the spread of the epidemic was controlled.

    The Director of Health in the local government, Nura Hassan, urged residents in the area to keep their surroundings clean and to construct pit latrines to stop open defecation.

    The Kardi Village Head, Fodio Bashar, commended the council and authorities of Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic, Birnin Kebbi, for their quick response, financial and medical assistance to the victims.

     

    NAN

  • Osinbajo storms Kebbi, commissions Africa’s largest rice mill

    Osinbajo storms Kebbi, commissions Africa’s largest rice mill

    The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday commissioned Africa’s largest parboiled rice mill in Argungu, Kebbi State.

    The over N10 billion state of the art WACOT Rice Mill, which is privately owned, is capable of processing over 120,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice annually.

    Speaking at the commissioning, Prof. Osinbajo said that the project underscored the policy of the government that the private sector must be the engine of economic growth and sustainable job generation.

    He noted that the project had proved that the country could actually feed itself.

    The Acting President urged Nigerians to consume what we grow; stressing that the agriculture policy of the Federal Government is to empower the largest number of farmers and encourage young ones.

    Speaking on the importance of the rice mill to the government diversification policy, Osinbajo said: ” This Mill is important for several reasons: The first is that it is the policy of the FG that it is the private sector that must be the engine of devt. It is not just the private sector leading growth, but the growth must be growth with jobs, it cannot be jobless growth we have seen a lot of jobless jobs.

    “But one of the critical things we are seeing today especially with the growth of agriculture is that this is growth with jobs, several thousands of our people are farming and are engaged in farming. I spoke to the MD earlier on and he was saying that in this coming year they are expecting to be engaged with 50000 farms and that is the kind of private sector led growth that we want to see.

    “The second is that the president laid out in the budget of scheme of 2016 that we must grow what we must consume what we grow, it is up to us to grow what we eat.

    “This is a landmark achievement here, it is a signal to the rest of the countries that Nigeria is not just opened for business but it is set for development.”

    The Group Managing Director of WACOT rice mill, Mr. Rahul Savara, hinted that the company had a plan of investing further over N100 billion over the next years in various agricultural value chains.

    He noted that so far, over 5,000 small-holder rice farmers had been trained on good farming practices, financial management, production cost optimization and yield enhancement techniques.

  • Senate confirms 8 REC nominees, steps down Lagos, Kebbi, candidates

    The Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Mrs Asmanu Maikudi from Katsina State and seven others as Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC).

    Other nominees, who were equally confirmed are, Mr Sam Olumekun from Ondo State, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu from Sokoto State, Mr Kassim Geidam from Yobe and Jibrin Zarewa from Kano State.

    Prof. Samuel Egwu from Kogi, Mr Mike Igini from Delta and Abdulganiyu Raji from Oyo State were also confirmed.

    The upper chamber, however, stepped down consideration of Amb. Rufus Akeju (Lagos), Dr Mahmuda Isah (Kebbi) and Ahmad Mahmud (Zamfara).

    It also rejected the nomination of Prof. Mustapha Zubairu of Niger on the ground that he came from the same geo-political zone with Mohammed Haruna, the Federal Commissioner, representing North Central in INEC.

    This decision of the senate followed the report of the Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented by its Chairman, Sen. Suleiman Nazif.

    The decision of the chamber to step down the confirmation of Akeju was sequel to a Point-of-Order raised by the Deputy Minority Whip, Sen. Biodun Olujimi, on a court judgment against his appointment.

    Displaying a copy of the judgment, she warned that confirming the nominee would amount to a negation of the powers of the judiciary.

    On the nominees from Kebbi and Zamfara, the senate said that there were issues on their cases that needed to be further investigated.

    In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, charged the successful nominees to contribute their quota to transform election process in the country.

    He said that their appointment was timely as it would have positive impact on elections in the country.

    “The newly confirmed Resident Electoral Commissioners are people of high integrity, disciplined and full of patriotism.

    So, we expect that the gains recorded by INEC in the previous elections should be surpassed.

    “The timetable recently released by INEC for 2019 general elections is timely and this will give the newly-appointed RECs an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the previous elections.

    “On our part as a Senate, our committee is working on the amendment of the Electoral Act to further complement the electoral body,’’ he said.

    Meanwhile, the Senate had, prior to the confirmation of the RECs, clarified that it had not changed its resolution not to consider presidential requests for confirmation on areas not specified in the Constitution.

    It stated that it would maintain the position until judicial interpretation was made on those areas.

    This followed a Point of Order by Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe.

    Whiling citing Order 43, he said that he was taken aback when he read in the newspapers that the Senate had reversed its resolution on confirmation of certain executive nominations.

    On that, Saraki said, “this institution has great respect on the resolutions that we pass here as a body.

    “We will never go against our resolutions. If you can recollect, what we said is explicitly stated in the Constitution in Section 153 or even section 171.

    “Ambassadorial and ministerial appointments are the only ones that we will continue to consider.

    “Those are ambassadors, ministers and others bodies, specified in the Constitution.

    “The National Assembly will not consider anyone outside the specified agencies, and INEC is among those bodies that are in section 153, which we will consider their nominations.

    “This is just to assure you that we have not shifted ground on this resolution.

    “Please discard what you read from the newspapers and be guided that as presiding officers we respect the law,’’ he said.

    In another development, the National Information and Intelligence Database Bill, 2017 scaled first reading at the plenary.

    The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi(APC-Kaduna), is aimed at making the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit(NFIU) autonomous of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

    It is part of effort to lift the suspension of Nigeria from EGMONT, an international Financial Intelligence Group.

     

  • APC clears Kebbi LG polls

    APC clears Kebbi LG polls

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all the 21 chairmanship seats in the just concluded Kebbi State local government elections with 958,881 total votes.

    Chairman of Kebbi State Independent Electoral Commission, (KESIEC), Aliyu Mera, in a press release, signed by himself and made available to journalists, on Sunday night, stated that PDP which participated in six local government councils got 37,532; while, APGA which participated in four councils got 3,440 votes.

    He noted that the polls were conducted under a peaceful atmosphere.

    According to him, 28 political parties participated in the local government elections where the APC won all the chairmanship seats in a landslide victory.

    Some of the others parties that participated in the polls include; HOPE, YDP, AD, AP, FRESH, PDN, NPP, MEGA, PDM, KOWA, ACCORD, ACPN, SDP, PPA, PRP, PPN, AP and UDP.

  • Boat Mishap: 7 dead, 136 missing in Kebbi

    No fewer than seven people have died and seven hospitalized in Ngaski Local Government Area of Kebbi when a boat carrying 150 passengers returning from Malali Market capsized along River Niger.

    The Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in-charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States, Alhaji Sulaiman Muhammad, confirmed this to newsmen in Ngaski on Saturday.

    He said that efforts were on going between fishermen and the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to rescue the missing passengers.

    “As soon as we had got the hint of the mishap, we put a call to the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority to help rescue the missing passengers.

    “All the people on board were missing, but as rescue and search continue wide and deep of the river intensified, 14 people have been discovered; seven died and seven have been taken to Ngaski Hospital,” he said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the accident occurred when the boat on transit carrying 150 passengers hit a branch of tree in the water and capsized.

    Ngaski Local Government Area is two hours journey from the river where the incident happened.

     

     

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  • Tragedy struck in Kebbi as man, wife, three children die in generator fire

     

    Tragedy stuck in Kebbi on Tuesday as a couple, Kehinde and Kehinde Sarafa were burnt to death with their kids in a fire that gutted their apartment.

    The unfortunate incident happened in Koko town in the Koko Local Government area of Kebbi State.

    The couple’s three children, Abdullahi (male, four years old); Alimat (female, three years old) and Moriam (female, one year old), were also reportedly burnt beyond recognition.

    According to a report by The Punch, Kehinde, aka Lasisi, had been living with his family in Sokoto State, where he worked as a digital photo printer.

    He was said to have moved to Koko, Kebbi State, after securing appointment with a top-flight company.

    However, after about four months of shuttling from Sokoto where his family was, and Kebbi, the place of his new job, he decided to relocate his wife and children to his two-bedroomed flat in Koko.

    The 38-year-old reportedly turned on his generator on Monday and went to sleep with his family.

    However, around 1.30am on Tuesday when the electricity distribution company restored power, there was said to have been an explosion in the meter, which resulted in the fire.

    Lasisi’s elder brother, Tajudeen Abdulsalam, said residents couldn’t save the victims due to the intensity of the inferno.

    He said, “He was formerly based in Sokoto before he got a job in Koko. On Sunday, he went to pick his family members in Sokoto to live with him. He had been living alone in Koko until then. They had just spent one day together in the house when the incident happened.

    “He was probably trying to make them comfortable by turning on the generator in the evening. I think he had not been using the generator before then, and because of that, he did not detect that the generator and regular electricity wires were not appropriately separated.

    “By the time power was restored, he was asleep, but the generator was still running. So, there might have been a jam between the generator and the regular power, which resulted in the fire. By the time they woke up, the flames had blocked their exit route.

    They cried for help, but people could not gain access to the place.

    “Their neighbours tried to force the door open and even removed the windows, but it was all in vain, until the time they stopped calling for help.”

    He described the late Lasisi as “simple, kind, generous and obedient.”

    Abdulsalam said the victims were buried in the town in accordance with Islamic rites, adding that the family could not identify the corpses because they were burnt beyond recognition.

    The policemen from the Koko division visited the scene after the case was reported to them.

    Lasisi’s twin brother, Taiwo, said he spoke with him a few hours to the incident without any foreboding.

    “I spoke with him around 7.30pm that evening. He told me that they still had some of their property in Sokoto. Even my wife spoke with his wife, Kehinde, around 8.30pm the same evening. It was around 2.30am that one of their neighbours called me to say there was a fire incident and they all died. Only their apartment was affected. We are in shock because nobody expected it,” he said.

    Kehinde worked with Spectrum Digital Lab in Sokoto from September 2015 to sometime in September 2016, when he relocated to Koko.

    A former co-worker and family friend, Bayode Oluwaseyi, described him as a diligent man who went through a lot of difficulty before having a breakthrough.

    “He had been in the industry from the analogue to the digital era, and he contributed a lot to the photo printing world. After all the problems he went through before the breakthrough in September, it was unfortunate this tragedy befell him and his family members,” he said.

  • LASG to roll out “Lake Rice’’ at N13,000 on Dec. 15

    LASG to roll out “Lake Rice’’ at N13,000 on Dec. 15

    The Lagos State Government on Thursday said it was ready to roll out Lake Rice on Dec. 15 to Lagosians at N13,000 per 50 kg towards the Yuletide celebrations.

    Mr Sanni Okanlawan, Special Adviser on Food Security to Gov. Akinwumi Ambode, made the disclosure in Lagos during the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) National Agriculture Stakeholders Summit.

    Okanlawan said that sales of the rice would be made at all the 57 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state to ensure proper distribution.

    “Lake Rice is the acronym of both Lagos and Kebbi States joint product which will be out to the public on Dec. 15 at the rate of N13,000 per 50kg bag as it is already subsidised by the government.

    “To make it more available, the rice will be sold at the 57 LGAs and LCDAs for easy accessibility and to guard against unwanted persons diverting the product.

    “The state government has put in place a committee that will ensure that Lagosians have the best Christmas celebration, that is why we are offering the wholesome and well packaged rice,’’ Okanlawan said.

    The special adviser also said that the state had established a Department of Agribusiness, an Agriculture Trust Fund and Commodity Exchange Market to be set up soon.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the government’s efforts were in alignment with the Federal Government’s diversification drive from a mono-economy to agriculture.